


A Caged Animal

by Sugarmouse



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-21
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-05 16:03:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1824217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sugarmouse/pseuds/Sugarmouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after Hannibal's capture. Will visits.</p>
<p>For the Murder Husband Network's weekly prompt <a href="http://murderhusbandsnetwork.tumblr.com/post/88885549493/prompt-okay-guys-this-weeks-prompt-is-nature">"Nature"</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Caged Animal

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to [Jay Auris](http://archiveofourown.org/users/nighthawkms/pseuds/Jay%20Auris) for the speedy beta!
> 
> You can contact me on tumblr at [sugarmaus](http://sugarmaus.tumblr.com) and on twitter [@ThisMouse](https://twitter.com/ThisMouse).

He’s not a man, he’s a creature, a monster. He, _it_ , looks back at him through the bars of it’s cage and suddenly Will can see the edges of the illusion. Will can see how perfect the disguise was and yet it hurts to know that it had fooled him.

The beast tilts it’s head and looks at Will intently. There was a time when Will regarded the blankness of the man, the lack of emotion behind his eyes, as a blessing. For someone like Will, someone who feels too much, it was nice to be around someone who did not project constant emotion. Hannibal had not made him feel as though there was anything wrong with him. All along, it had been Hannibal who was _different_ , who was _wrong_. Hannibal was simply adept at hiding what he really felt and giving others what they thought they needed. It was false and wrong, hiding in plain sight. Monsters had turned out to be real after all.

”Feeling better?” asks the monster and Will narrows his eyes and takes a breath.

”Hannibal,” he says quietly. Hannibal looks back at him with cold emptiness, expressing nothing of what is happening behind his eyes.

”Perhaps you came to gloat,” says Hannibal. His face does not betray how he feels about this possibility. Will is not sure if the creature can truly _feel_ , if what it thinks it experiences are close to true human emotions. Then Hannibal smiles and it’s feral and dangerous. Will steps back from the bars of his cage.

”No,” says Will, his voice rough sounding. He clears his throat but it doesn’t do much to take the edge from his voice. “I didn’t come to gloat.”

”I did not anticipate a visit from you,” Hannibal says. “Why did you come?” He tilts his head and Will must remind himself that it’s not real, it’s all a carefully crafted illusion. It is all Hannibal’s impression of a man who is not a murderer. He sounds curious, pleasant even. His voice sounds like it did when they met, when Hannibal had fooled them all. Will looks at the floor so he’s not confronted by Hannibal’s gaze.

When Will doesn’t answer, Hannibal takes a step closer. The movement makes Will jerk his body backward and he must force his breathing to slow. He looks up and sees Hannibal grin at him. It’s uncharacteristic of the person he’s been pretending to be this whole time. It’s a near perfect illusion. Will bites his lip.

”I suppose if someone were to catch me, it is good that it was you,” says Hannibal. Will does not respond. “It would take someone very special to bring me in.”

”I guess you think that’s a compliment,” says Will quietly, angrily. This man, this creature, monster, _animal_ , has ruined so many things, too many things. Will shakes his head. Despite everything Hannibal has done, despite what he himself has done in pursuit of catching him, he can’t feel the way he thinks he should.

”You’re special,” says Hannibal and he steps closer again, bringing a hand up to rest his fingertips against the bars. He runs his fingers along the bars that divide them. “We both are, that’s why we made such wonderful adversaries and friends.”

”We are not friends,” snarls Will and he stares at Hannibal’s face and tries to see any scrap of humanity that might lurk beneath the carefully crafted artifice of his exterior. He cannot see it, he cannot _feel_ it. “Even when I thought we were, it wasn’t real.”

”You cannot change the past,” says Hannibal softly. He sounds sad and it’s just another trick, another demonstration at how good he is at fooling everyone. “We both dreamed of the cup coming together Will, of fixing something that is broken.”

”You might have dreamed of fixing cups, but all you did was smash them,” says Will and he feels like he should be screaming. He feels as though the rage inside him should be so intense that he can’t contain it. It should hurt as it claws it’s way out of his body. Yet he does not feel anything now. Perhaps he feels disappointment though he’s not sure if the source of it is this anticlimax and the missing reaction or a sadness over his distinct lack of cathartic rage.

”You dislike me,” says Hannibal and Will would roll his eyes if he wasn’t so caught up in staring at Hannibal’s dead eyes. “Yet you came here to see me.”

”I didn’t say why I came,” says Will and Hannibal smiles again. It doesn’t reach his eyes and Will thinks that he should have noticed that a lot sooner, should have realised that all the emotions that Hannibal once showed were simply false.

”If you disliked me as much as I suspect, there’s only one reason you would have come,” says Hannibal and he tilts his head a little, looking so curious and _normal_. He has the appearance of an innocent man, a living human being with emotions and a conscience and yet Will knows that it all must be a lie.

”I want you to stop,” says Will. “Just stop with all this….” Will gestures across the gap between them. He sighs. “Stop trying to make me feel comfortable with you, I never will.”

”You did once,” says Hannibal.

”I know what you are now,” says Will and he looks to the side, down the deserted hallway. It’s good that Chilton has put Hannibal down here by himself. It makes this a lot easier.

”You still haven’t said why you’ve come here,” says Hannibal and he runs his finger up and down along the edge of the bar of his cage. Will thinks he should feel safe, feel comforted by having the bars between them. Putting Hannibal in a cage was supposed to feel _good_.

”This was supposed to fix everything,” says Will suddenly and he bites his lip and tries to hold on to some semblance of calm. “I was going to put you away and make things right.” Will takes a lungful of air but he can’t stop himself from speaking. “I keep _waiting_. I keep hoping that I’ll feel okay about this.”

”Tell me Will, do you feel guilt over putting me in this place?” Will looks up and sees those eyes, blank like a shark’s, and the beast they belong to is probably just as dangerous.

”I’m not your patient anymore,” says Will but they both know he’s just avoiding the question.

”And yet you came here to see me,” says Hannibal and he grins but Will can’t even tell if the creature in the cage is capable of feeling joy.

”Why did you do it?”

”You think I’ll deprive a legion of fools lead by our own dear Doctor Chilton their chance to attempt to tease that out?” Hannibal moves a fraction closer and closes his fingers around the bar. He looks at Will and Will can’t even tell what emotion he’s trying to convey.

”I need to know,” says Will softly, pleadingly, _pathetically_. “I just...I need you to tell me.”

”To confirm your suspicions?” asks Hannibal in a whisper. He presses closer, too close but Will doesn’t move. “You’ve come to some conclusions already, ones you don’t want to accept. Tell me Will, what is it that you think of me?” His curiosity seems genuine but Will is not prepared to buy any of the falseness that Hannibal displays on his face.

”It’s your nature,” Will says and Hannibal tilts his head and _smiles_.

”You’re a dangerous animal,” says Will, looking into Hannibal’s face and wishing he could trust what he sees there. “You’re wild and unpredictable and not entirely human.”

”Ah Will, I never believed you to be someone who would try to make things so simple when you know that they’re not,” says Hannibal. Will shakes his head.

”No, it’s not simple, not at all,” Will replies and he turns his head to look down the hallway to the open door at the end. Hannibal tilts his head forward, trying to follow Will’s gaze even though his view is blocked.

”Tell me Will, what have you done?” asks Hannibal and Will sighs and shakes his head.

”When a dog is vicious, I don’t blame it. I just think it’s so sad that an animal has been given an existence like that, one that means it’s not compatible with the life it’s expected to lead.”

”You compare me to one of your dogs?” asks Hannibal but he doesn’t sound angry, merely curious.

”No,” says Will so quietly that Hannibal turns his head to bring his ear that fraction closer. “I love my dogs, they’re not killers.”

”And if one of them turned out to be dangerous?” asks Hannibal, turning his head more to hear Will’s response.

”In that case, I wouldn’t have a choice, I’d have to put it down.”

”But you say you _love_ your dogs,” says Hannibal and he turns back to look at Will head on. Perhaps this curiosity is real after all, this creature cannot understand how Will feels.

”I do,” says Will. “And that is precisely why I would put them out of their misery.”

Hannibal nods. “I see,” he says and he smiles. Will winces at the deadness in Hannibal’s eyes, a deadness he might have had a hand in growing.

”Is that why you came?” asks Hannibal. “To put me out of my misery?” Will’s eyes widen and he takes a step backwards. Hannibal nods and steps back away from the bars of his cage, opening the space between them further. “The timing isn’t right is it, for visiting hours.” He nods again and he smiles again but this time there’s some other spark there, behind his eyes.

”I can’t blame you,” says Will quietly, his hand going to his coat pocket and running along the outline of the gun. “not any more than I’d blame a rabid dog. It’s not your fault you’re like this.”

”Isn’t it?” asks Hannibal. He seems so calm, too calm. “I enjoyed every life ended, every meal created and enjoyed.” His smile never wavers, he seems so happy and _pleasant_. It’s unnerving.

”You’re an animal,” says Will and he pulls the gun from his pocket and points it at Hannibal. His hand shakes more than it did in his imaginings of this scenario.

”One in a cage,” says Hannibal and Will bites his lip hard. He can taste the blood in his mouth and his hands shake so hard as he tries to steady the gun. “This won’t make you feel any better.”

Will knows it’s true but he doesn’t want it to be so. He wants to pull the trigger and have every bad dream go away. He wants to pull the trigger and feel relieved and have all the ghosts of the victims he couldn’t save be able to go and rest in peace. He lowers the gun.

Will clicks the safety on and returns the gun to it’s hiding place. He takes a breath and he looks at Hannibal and he feels helpless and worried and hurt. He shakes his head but he knows Hannibal is inside him, along with all his victims.

”I’ll never come back here,” says Will but his voice shakes and he knows how pathetic he sounds. “I hope you rot down here.” He turns to leave, to go back up past the orderly’s desk, empty via a bribe. He walks to the open door at the hallway, away from Hannibal in his cage.

”A wild animal deserves to be free,” Hannibal calls out as Will walks away. Will’s stomach turns when he realises he’s nodding in agreement.


End file.
